In A First Since Fall Of Kabul, India’s Foreign Secretary Misri Engages With Taliban

From Chabahar to Cricket – India commits cooperation with Taliban in Afghanistan even as tensions emerge between Kabul and Islamabad

India-Afghanistan-Taliban: In a surprise development Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai and promised to cooperate with the interim Taliban government there in enhancing trade, people-to-people linkages as well as strengthening partnership in sports, particularly in cricket.

This was the first such high-level engagement between New Delhi and the Taliban in Kabul since the Islamist group took over Afghanistan in August 2021. The meeting took place at a time when Afghanistan is witnessing heightened tensions with Pakistan concerning the Durand Line – the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan – as well as regarding the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“Foreign Secretary (Misri) underlined India’s historic friendship with the Afghan people and the strong people to people contacts between the two countries. In this context, he conveyed India’s readiness to respond to the urgent developmental needs of the Afghan people,” said an official readout issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

During the delegation-level meeting, Misri was accompanied by India’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Sunjay Sudhir and J.P. Singh, Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran Division), Ministry of External Affairs, among other officials. 

While India has not formally recognised the Taliban rule in that war-torn country, New Delhi had been engaging in a regular dialogue with Kabul post its fall.

The MEA statement also said, “The two sides evaluated the ongoing Indian humanitarian assistance programmes. The Afghan Minister appreciated and thanked the Indian leadership for continuing to engage and support the people of Afghanistan. In view of the current need for development activities, it was decided that India would consider engaging in development projects in the near future, in addition to the ongoing humanitarian assistance programme.”

So far, India has been engaging with the Taliban by dispatching Singh from the PAI division to hold dialogues with them in Kabul. 

Taliban Keen To Use Chabahar Port

One of the most significant outcomes of the meeting was the Taliban’s readiness to leverage Iran’s Chabahar Port, which is being developed by India, in order to boost trade and commercial activities. This was a clear indication of the fact that tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan are soaring as Kabul is looking to leverage its ties with India by using the Chabahar Port. 

According to the MEA, both sides “agreed to promote the use of Chabahar port for supporting trade and commercial activities, including for the purpose of humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan.”

The issue of enhanced usage of the strategic port in Iran also came up during a recent visit to India by Iran’s new Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi.

Kanwal Sibal, Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and former Foreign Secretary, told ABP Live, “The earlier assumption that was there with the coming in of the Taliban that Pakistan’s goal of strategic depth has been achieved and concerns over rise in terrorism from that region have now been proven somewhat incorrect. In fact the opposite has happened.”

“Pakistan and Afghanistan are now fighting over the Durand Line and TTP is a big headache for Islamabad now. Therefore, Afghanistan’s vulnerability of getting access to Chabahar Port has increased owing to growing tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan,” said Sibal.

He added, “With such rapid deterioration of ties between Kabul and Islamabad, the Chabahar route has proved to be most strategic for the Taliban. They are now keen to develop that route. Iran also has a strategic interest in promoting Chabahar with the tensions they are facing in that region.”

On Wednesday, India also promised the Taliban to provide more material support for the health sector and also for the rehabilitation of refugees, the MEA stated.

“The Afghan side underlined its sensitivities to India's security concerns. The two sides agreed to remain in touch and continue regular contacts at various levels,” it added.

According to Sibal, who was India’s envoy to France and Russia, as ties between India and Afghanistan gets “upgraded progressively”, New Delhi can resume some of the projects it was developing in the rural areas of Afghanistan prior to the Taliban rule there.

Last January, India had attended a Taliban organised conference - Afghanistan Regional Cooperation Initiative - in Kabul.

After shutting down its embassy in Kabul in August 2021 as the Taliban took over Afghanistan, India re-opened its mission there and deployed a technical team there. However, matters concerning issuance of visas to Afghans, who are willing to travel to India for medical or educational purposes, are not being handled by the Embassy. India introduced a system of e-visas after August 2021.

Since August 2021, India has dispatched several shipments consisting of 50,000 MTs of wheat, 300 tons of medicines, 27 tons of earthquake relief aid, 40,000 litres of pesticides, 100 million polio doses, 1.5 million doses of COVID vaccine, 11,000 units of hygiene kits for the drug de-addiction programme, 500 units of winter clothing and 1.2 tons of stationery kits, to Afghanistan.

In December, Pakistan military carried out air strikes inside Afghanistan as tensions between both neighbours increase over the Pakistan Taliban, or TTP. The air raids were conducted in order to hit TTP’s hideouts inside Afghanistan. The TTP, although based in Pakistan, follows the Afghan Taliban ideologically.